Pass Blog
Circum-Atlantic Conference: The Future of the African Diaspora
“Afrofuturism, arguably the most famous concept of speculative futures of the African diaspora, originated primarily in the USA, and is associated with artists such as Sun Ra, George Clinton and Octavia Butler. Envisaging a future and presenting this impulse was considered a symbol of liberation. How do contemporary artists and intellectuals of the African diaspora in North and South America, as well as Europe, envision their future today?”
Listen to this talk on PASS. 30/10/2015. 19hoo-21h00
The circum-atlantic conference will bring together speakers in Johannesburg, Sao Paulo and New York, to discuss these issues via live video conference. Speakers include Kodwo Eshun of the prolific Otolith Group, based in London, Cameroonian Bonaventure Ndikung, founder and curator of the Berlin based SAVVY Contemporary art space, Adrienne Edwards, curator, scholar, and writer with a focus on artists of the African diaspora and the global South and Kenyan born, award-winning artist Wangechi Mutu who lives in New York. They will be joined by Viny Rodriguez, Sociologist and member of Sistema Negro, and Leda Martins, poet and essayist, both from Sao Paulo.
Recommended Reading: In the film, In the Year of the Quiet Sun, produced by The Otolith Group postage stamps produced in Ghana between 1957 and 1966 are assembled into a political calendar of pan Africanist images. At “After Year Zero”, Eshun discussed the film, philatelic time travel, pan African pop art, moments of resistance and excavating the past. Watch this discussion here.
African Futures. Technology: Means or Curse of the Future?
“Who owns technology and its embedded codes? When will we use software that’s written in Yoruba? And what’s the story with Ghanaian cyberpunk?” On the 30th of October, 2015, PASS will be streaming the panel discussion “Technology: Means or Curse of the Future?” that features Raimi Gdadamosi (Nigeria/UK) as the keynote speaker, and Teagan Bristow (South Africa), Jonathan Dotse (Ghana) and Waniru Kahui (Kenya) as panel respondents. “Technology in its current form (and particularly the representation of technology) is widely produced …
Category: Articles, Pass Blog
Tags: African Futures, Jonathan Dotse, raimi gbadamosi, teagan bristow, Wanur Kahui
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African Futures: Africa’s Speculative Futures and New Imaginaries
“What kind of speculative futures do artists from different disciplines imagine? Much thought-provoking work has been produced when artists engage with ideas of the future and how contemporary realities in Africa potentially provide answers to questions yet to come.” On the 29 of October, 2015, PASS will be streaming the panel discussion “Africa’s Speculative Futures and New Imaginaries” that features Jean-Pierre Bekolo (Cameroun) as the keynote speaker, and Sherif Adel (Egypt), Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum …
PASS landing at The Showroom, London
In the first week of October (7-11) 2015, PASS presented a live broadcasting programme of music, interviews and events with Chimurenga collaborators, The Otolith Collective (Kodwo Eshun and Anjalika Sagar), in London. Areas of interest included the work of photographer George Hallett – who used the book jacket and record sleeve as a curated exhibition space during the apartheid era; a critical look at the concept of and crude distinction drawn between Sub-Saharan and Arab Africa; and FESTAC ’77, the Second World Black and …
Kongo Astronauts: Au bord du présent
back in the Kaapstad studio
Dankie all who contributed and tuned in to London sessions (and Paris before them). Next pop-up in New York.
Category: Pass Radio
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Christine Eyene on George Hallett
Pass Me the Microphone w/ Rehana Zaman
Rehana Zaman draws on black women’s experiences of activism, immigration and race relations in ‘That’s Life’, a two-part audio work developed for Pass Me the Microphone. Part conversation, part song, voice and music, ‘That’s Life’ reflects on the ways in which groups, organisations and systems, inscribe racialised and gendered roles within society. Part one features a conversation with Dr Gail Lewis, a sociologist who specialises in psychosocial studies of race and gender. Gail was a long standing member of Brixton …